The Southern Poverty Law Center, in an article republished by the left-liberal Salon magazine, has issued another of its breathless alarms about “radical Traditionalist Catholics.”  This one concerns an upcoming Fatima conference in Niagara Falls (September 8-13) featuring some 27 speakers, including Congressman Ron Paul, which will address, among other topics, the growing tyranny of the modern nation-state and the urgency of the Fatima message for both civic and Church leaders who are seeking peace and social order.

The screaming headline declares: “Ron Paul to be keynote speaker at anti-Semitic conference.” According to SPLC, the anti-Semitism is attributable to Ron Paul himself—an allegation based on old newsletters with which Paul was loosely associated many years ago whose content SPLC deems politically incorrect.

One “radical traditionalist” theme of the conference, quoted by the article, is “a return to sanity in the government of the world and the Church, for the two cannot be separated.”

“Another day, another amusingly hysterical bulletin from SPLC,” said Christopher A. Ferrara, one of the conference speakers.  “Ron Paul is not even Catholic, but rather is speaking on secular themes related to the current political and economic crisis. Not every speaker at this conference is my cup of tea, but that is whole point of the conference: to bring together people from Church and State, from all over the world, to discuss from different perspectives the moral,  spiritual, political and economic crises threatening Western civilization.”

Ferrara noted that the SPLC accuses the conference of being “anti-Semitic” because one of the speakers attended a different conference that included a speaker who was accused of being anti-Semitic.  “Guilt by association, twice removed? Based on double-hearsay accusations, not proof?  Are they kidding?  Are the organizers of Catholic conferences supposed to investigate every other conference attended by every invitee in his lifetime to see if any of those other conferences included people accused of, suspected of, savoring of, ‘anti-Semitism’—whatever that means? Please!”

“This latest cry of wolf is a perfect example of why SPLC has zero credibility, and why a condemnation by that far-Left group of loons has actually become a badge of honor among the growing number decent people and groups SPLC has attempted to smear,” Ferrara concluded.